Tag: Buddhism: Plain and Simple

If we are honest, sometimes things get dark. We are told to follow our hearts, to find our passion, our calling, but nobody tells us HOW to get to these things. It can feel like an endless search to get lucky, to find that four leaf clover in the vast clover field. Did you know it’s about 1 in 10,000? We search and we search for the thing we think we WANT, only to miss the thing we NEED right in front of us. Hidden in plain sight, it takes a sideways glance, or a music lyric, or maybe the intensity of an incredible workout to wake us out of our slumber, and show us reality for a second. Gasping for breath, panting, and struggling for air, you look down and you see something BETTER than you were after…you see life as it REALLY is…in all it’s beauty. In the darkness, when times are tough, you still get to choose. You always have a choice…a choice to see the good, to see what is right there in front of you, to choose to silently smile and accept that happiness is available to you right here, right now, no matter your circumstance. In Buddhism Plain and Simple, Steve Hagen likens this to a feast set out before us, complete with every delight you can imagine. You can partake NOW, or at any moment of your choosing, and yet we complain of our hunger. We thirst for the water, the wine, and the milk and honey…that are set right in front of us. We complain because it’s familiar, and it doesn’t make waves. Everyone else is doing it, and so we have solidarity. It’s counter-culture to SNAP people out of us it and say what Marcus Aurelius said, “If it is endurable, endure it. Stop complaining.” What’s more counter-culture is to say, in earnest, to “WAKE UP!” It’s not a magic pill, and it doesn’t last long…maybe a second or two, but when you see that tiny glimpse of something beautiful, it’s time to breathe deep, take it in, and own that moment. If you ever catch someone smiling silently, take note. They know what we are talking about here. You get to choose, so choose to see the good.